Saturday, November 24, 2012

Seriously why isn't this already happening?

Birth control pills are safe and should be sold over-the-counter without the need for a doctor's exam or prescription, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommended Wednesday.

Noting that half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended -- a rate unchanged in 20 years -- ACOG said easier access to oral contraceptives could help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.

"It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem," Dr. Kavita Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360 (formerly known as Family Health International), told the Associated Press.

Gee providing easier access to birth control as method of reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, and therefore abortions in this country.

51 comments:

Now where has the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists been hiding during the past few years? Not a peep out of this organization or the AMA while Republicans legislators both in state houses and in Washington have been considering or passing legislation that is damaging to women's health or just plain unscientific. It was the same thing when the GOP was spreading lies about what ultimately became the Affordable Healthcare Act.

Not one word from the AMA, the AHA or the the ABA about the absurdity of the "death panel" fiction although hospital administrations and the legal profession has been advocating for planned and written final instructions from patients for decades now.

Not one word from any of the advocacy groups for one illness or another that are constantly bombarding all of us with address labels and and calendars (especially at this time of year) about how universal health care would make this a healthier nation.

Now suddenly birth control looks like a good idea to the medical community, such a good idea that a doctor does not have to be involved in the decision to use it. Well, thanks a lot, American Ass'n of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, but your silence during the past couple of years has really been deafening.Beaglemom

Could it be b/c Obamacare gives woman free "well woman" exam?No as they will find a reason...well they already have. For some years now I have wondered WHY every dumbass Con Man blogger would say something like "all lib women have had 20K abortions..." I thought they were just ignorant, but turns out they THINK BC are "mini abortions"!!!!The discussion for the Plan be bill a REPUBLICAN DOC actually said Plan B causes abortions and so does BC pills! Mind you a DOCTOR said this! He should of been stripped of his license for saying something like that.Now that being said, One thing I am afraid off is that the girls involved won't be schooled in how to take them...you take the pill for so many days then for the last 5 a progesterone pill is taken to bring on the woman's period. Well at least that's how they used to be.I'm worried that uneducated women/teens will just treat it like a condom and use only when having sex, thus ensuring she will get pregnant.That is my worry having them out there. That is where Planned Parenthood was so valuable b/c they would take the time to explain to girls...where as a free well woman exam, the dr. might rush it b/c its a free exam after all?

If you make them over the counter and cheap, the 'religious' objections' to having them be a covered drug would have to disappear as well. How come they don't insist that we pull condoms from the shelves? Their ire about contraception always seemed aimed at the female, doesn't it? So glad they aren't REALLY at war with women, and they respect us so much they would make every last decision for us. What's next? Mandating when we menstruate so they know when to rape us for the most likely ovulation time?

Birth control pills, more commonly known as "Cramp Pills" to the Palins, should be made more available to families such as the Palins and Heaths but it wouldn't help since the Palins and Heaths loves that commando natural ride and when sex calls they don't have time to fumble around looking for their cramp pills.

Uh, this would be funny except for the part where you suggest that the woman needs to take a pill before sex. That's Rush Limbaugh kind of thinking/misunderstanding. Pills are taken daily whether or not you're having sex or using them to prevent pregnancy (vs menstrual pain, etc).

I have mixed feelings about this. If you make them over the counter then they will no longer be free.

My daughter has been on them since senior year in high school to help regulate her cycle (just like i needed them). She has been on 3 different perscriptions to get it right in the fours years she has been on them. Some gave her terrible mood swings.

But to have them over the counter would help those with no health care. Often the ones most vulnerable for an unwanted pregnancy.

The real solution is everyone should have health care. But that will not come soon enough.

Yes but once it becomes an over the counter product it's too late to go back to insurance paying for them, seems to me it's the pharma's and insurance who are the winners in all this, pharmas make money on the products, possibly in greater sales and insurance saves on providing less for pregnancies and future children.

Women will have to pay out of their pocket for their birth control instead of insurance, BC is covered under Obamacare.

Women once again get the shaft, pun intended. More cost to them and less health care.

Hos could anybody possibly be agasint that? (lol, late night Gryphen?)Seriously, you have to ask? In a world where sex has no consequences, all women will become sex crazed Jezebels leading our society into absolute moral decay. Not to mention god's wrath. You libruls really need to start thinking these things through.

5:02 AM Sex crazed Jezebels are located in Wasilla, Alaska at the Palin Baby Factory. A place where the young are always barefooted and uneducated. A place where some of the New babies are hidden from public view, or 'GIVEN AWAY'. A place where morals are for others and Pimps freely live with grown daughters in the same house. A place where GRIFTING is substituted for WORK. God has spoken and Sarah, John, Mitt, Paul, and Newt were not elected to the WHITE HOUSE. God selected President Obama AGAIN.You Lost. BWHAHAHAHA.

Hasn't Bristol and Sunny both given the really lame excuse that they forgot to take their pills one weekend?

But since Bristol was actively trying to be a teenage mom - I guess that doesn't count. And ironically enough, Tripp's the reason why Bristol was able to leverage a tiny Hollywood / Speaking circuit career for someone having no original thought in her head or inkling of talent.

My comment about this is that it is a safe drug but if it goes OTC insurance companies will no longer pay for it. And if that happens I wonder if more or less women will have access to the pill.I welcome others thoughts and opinions

Little RabbitPS I remember when the pill became available and yes I was one of the first generations to have access.

Exactly right. When allergy meds (think Claritin) became OTC they went from a small co-pay (for the insured) to prohibitively expensive. It wasn't until years later when generics became available that the cost came down.

The thing with the allergy meds is apples and oranges. My daughter takes generic BC pills already. There are brand name ones, but they've been around for ages and now there are tons of generics unlike the newer allergy medicines.Her cost is $25 every 3 months while on our insurance. At Planned Parenthood, the cost for generics is $25 per month. WAY cheaper than having a child. Giving up a latte a day or a dinner out = pack of BC pills. You just have to use your brains and budget.

I think you both have very good points. But my daughter is on a pill that in the US is almost $80 a month to get one where she doesn't have side effects,but is isn't an issue since she now lives in Canada and gets it free.Little Rabbit

6:45 LOL! That's how long it's been since I needed BC. It was really expensive "back in the day" but since it gave me "eye migraines" (really cool light show) I had to use something else. Actually, allergy meds do the same thing, go figure.

That's right. Allegra works best for me, but the OTC cost is outrageous to take on a daily basis. So, the next question is, "How much would birth control cost OTC?" However, for all the people who don't have insurance, it would be a mute point. It would be awesome to be OTC if it cost the same as aspirin.

Surprise! The abortion rate just hit an all-time low. "The answers seem to have less to do with economic trends, as some have suggested, and potentially more about the more effective contraceptives women are increasingly using."

I was 20 - almost 21 - when I got married all those years ago and was put on the brand new birth control pill just prior to the marriage. It was a godsend and provided such relief as we didn't want children.

To my way of thinking, there should be no unwanted pregnancies today IF gals have access to the pill. Then abortions would not be the issue.

Agree! The birth control pill should be accessible through/via 'over the counter' with no perscription required. We are in 2013 for crying out loud!

And if you get your way all girls at the age of 12 will be buying them and fucking their boyfriends on a daily basis. Is that what you really want?

At least you're right about there not being any unwanted pregnancies or abortions. You just haven't got the time to try to figure out how to reach that point and so you advocate an easy way out of the problem. A problem that's growing bigger every day.

Twelve year olds will do what they want anyway, unless they have strong parental (or other adult) guidance and supervision. So if they are going to be sexually active, better they should have access to birth control.

Hold on Gryphen, I don't think this is as good an idea as it seems and I think women, again, will get the short end of the stick.

Birth control bills affect female hormone levels, which vary widely among each woman, there are many different BC pills with varied hormone combinations, it takes the right BC pill for it to work effectively for a woman. It's sometimes frustrating to find the right BC fit. So this isn't as easy peazy as just grabbing them off the shelf.

Also, too.....this cost will now come out of pocket for women instead of being free or low co-pay.

Nope, I think this is a cooked up deal between insurance companies, lobbyists, and doctors who I cannot believe support this idea.

Dear America,WTF is WRONG with you??? For a country that claims to be the most 'advanced' in the world, you sure have it backwards!!! (not directed at any forward thinking persons).I remember a line from my father (very Conservative) back in the 80's when I was a teen, "There is NO reason in this day and age for a girl to get pregnant unless She Wants To". (in other words, you (me) had better NOT get pregnant before you are bloody well ready!!!) I was put on the pill at 16. And his med coverage paid for it. Fast forward to my own daughter. I repeated the same thing to her (And my son). At 14, yes 14, I put her on the pill after finding a suggestive letter in her book bag one day (privacy be damned, this is My kid...). Because she was so inept at taking them regularly, as soon as she turned 18 we went to the Depo shot. That, has been a Godsend. And never mind all this "it's for my period cramps" BS. Here it is - PEOPLE HAVE SEX!!!! Even Teens!!! OMG!!! Get over it. Do I like it? No. Do I condone it? No. Do I accept it? Yes. And I for one would rather my child(ren) be protected. My son has had the 'condom' talk since he was around 9-10. And at 15, I Still drill it into him - "sock it, sock it, sock it, Every Damn Time!!!!"But then again, I am a Canadian Conservative, so my mind isn't full of sheep fodder.

It's obvious to me that the Big Pharma, Big Insurance companies are behind this -- if BCs go OTC, women will pay much more and have less "care", since there will likely be fewer doctor visits. Insurance companies don't cover OTC drugs (and as far as I know, neither do national health programs, should we go to that eventually). So Big Pharma wins by getting full amounts. Big Insurance wins by not having to pay out on both the RX and the well-women visits.

OK, easier, but possibly more expensive as health insurers don't cover OTC meds. I pay a lot for antacid omeprazole that used to only be available by Rx and therefore covered by my insurance. It's a lot of $$ over time.

So you think that birth control pills should be available over the counter. Have you thought that one through to it's logical conclusion? Would you like to see 13 year old girls be able to buy them? Because some of them would and they would become more and more in vogue in a few years. Not only are you promoting the rush to immorality among young people, you are also promoting the use of the pill which is known to have adverse health effects for many women.

And before you audience accuses me of being a religious fanatic, I'll just say that I'm not. I'm an atheist. I'm just being rational and recognizing that neither birth control nor abortions are the desirable end result of this argument. Morality and abstenence for young women is! Is that too difficult to understand?

I just don't think this is a good idea, there are MANY different methods of birth control other than pills, women need to have ALL the information about their choices.

I personally hated taking BC pills and preferred a diaphragm, which needs to be fitted to each individual woman.

This choice is more complicated than over the counter shopping.

Now, once a woman perhaps knew which type BC pill she preferred, or which method she preferred and IF it was less than what they'd pay via insurance then yes, it would be more convenient and hopefully less $ to buy it over the counter.

I believe right now in order to re-new a prescription they need a doc visit every 3 months, inconvenient unless they need advice or monitoring for some health reason.

There are risks involved taking BC pills, depending on one's health.

Heck, I'd like to see condoms covered by insurance, they're pricey too.

One of the reasons they aren't available OTC is the wide combination of dose levels and active ingredients that need to be adjusted to a particular woman's physiology.

Another is the level of information necessary for proper use; I can't think of too many companies that would want to take the risk of a lawsuit for unintended pregnancies. With a record of dispensing it is much easier to assess compliance.

I'm certain that some women would switch (unsuccessfully) based on price/availability differences, and pharmacologically that would not work.

A last reason for not making them OTC is that most insurance companies would then have grounds for refusing to cover the costs at all.

From a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner:#1 When women take the pill they need an annual exam to continue to receive it, so they get paps, blood pressure checks, breast exams, STD screens and health education yearly. If the pill is OTC, millions of women wouldn't get annual exams and millions of abnormal paps with precancerous cells, breast tumors, blood pressure problems, unexpected pregnancies and STDs would go undeteced, leading to much more serious long term problems.

#2 Also the birth control pill can be somewhat complicated to take properly, especially when starting it, and this is a concern for women buying it with no healthcare education about it. Also antibiotics can render the pill ineffective and without information about this, many women will get pregnant unknowingly, even when taking the pill correctly. The pill also has risks of causing elevated blood pressure and blood clots, especially with smokers, who aren't prescribed it past the age of 35 if they're still smoking. So how would these risks be regulated if they're free to buy it regardless of those risks?

#3 When a prescription goes over the counter it's often more expensive than an insurance co-pay, or Planned Parenthood discount, so the cost could become prohibitive for some women to obtain.

#4 I feel strongly that the reason women are healthier, more knowledgable about their bodies, and live longer is because they're more involved in the medical system throughout their lives. Most of it revolves around annual exams for birth control which gets them in the habit for life. We want healthy women & healthy babies and I think the current system provides a great safety net for this, especially the importance of annual paps catching early precancerous cells, which are extremely common and treatable when caught early.

This is a topic that's near and dear to me. I have two daughters and one son, They learned not only about their own reproductive systems, but that of the opposite sex both from school, their doctors and from their parents. We started at around age 8 by answering whatever questions they brought up in an age appropriate manner, and continued until they know the proper terms and processes. Males know very little about what's happening under their own bellybuttons, and it's important that they know because the system doesn't have them hopping on a table with their feet in stirrups and a doctor using a speculum, taking pap smears and asking questions about their bodies. My daughters were put on birth control primarily to prevent unwanted pregnancies, they learned about other methods and chose for themselves what's right for them. I'm fine with OTC pills, as long as they have regular visits with an obgyn, doctor, and/or nurse practitioner. BUT I feel they should be covered by the ACA and/or get reimbursed for whatever method of birth control they use, including condoms.

I'd also like to see minoxonyl 9 (sp?) covered as well, it may save someone's life if/when barrier methods fail. While the doctors are at it, how about more methods geared toward males?

SOME countries have been working on male contraceptives for decades now. One of the most promising is called RISUG and is almost ready for public use. It is currently in the human testing stage and MIGHT be available as early as 2 years from now. Google male contraceptives and all sorts of info comes up. BTW, it is from India. (GEE. I wonder why? Couldn't have anything to do with their 1.24 BILLION population, could it?)

However, I WILL say that there doesn't seem to have been the push for male contraceptives as female in most of the world. Could it possibly be (aside from the usual arguments people make) that it is easier - from a biological point of view - to do it with women?

That is a question, not a snide comment and in no way is intended to slap the idea of male contraceptives!

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